Boat Show

So yesterday Brenda agreed to visit the strictly sail pacific coast boat show in Oakland. This is a great show where all the major boat makers are there and with a paid admission you get to go on any and all of the boats in the whole place. It was paradise for a guy like me and... Brenda actally had a great time as well. We went on a lot of boats checking out headroom and sleeping berths so we can make an informed decision on purchasing a new boat. No not really. We are not going to get a boat. I fear if I did I would have to also look for a new wife. Brenda was a great sport and let me buy a new lifejacket for sailing and that will have to do for now.
We really like the Hunter line of sailboats.
Wow look at the lines on that one...mmmm.
Brenda liked to make herself comfortable and I thought she looked great in this one. It is a bit out of our price range, but it is beautiful and life is to short to sail an ugly boat.
I must now be refered to as Captain...Captain John.
The galley on one of these awesome yachts is just big enough...actually it is bigger than our kitchen in our first apartment so it looked big enough for us..

Eventually we decided on the Hunter 31 as the boat we would most likely be able to afford and would fit into our lifestyle. I know it is a pipe dream, but the DeJongs are not just dreamers, but we are doers.

I know that I have not written lately, but my rents and sister were out here last week and I worked out of town all week so boo hoo you didn't get a post last week. I was working in Merced yet again, but I am working on installing piping for an injection system we have planned out there. It is getting warm there, but I was glad it was not summer. Installing piping is very labor and time consuming and I have over 60hrs of work in five days to prove it( and some scrapes and bruises).



My cousin got married last weekend and we went out there (Handford CA) and had a great time. Weddings are always fun and receptions are even better.



The wife and I.
This is my cousins little boy Dameon. He was very cool and I think he enjoyed us strangers (this was the first time we met him).
Reanna (De Haan) Bergman also recently had a child and since this is her neck of the woods she was at the wedding and it was cool to see her little boy Hudson.



So the other day I happened upon a rattlesnake and decided to kill it. After cutting the head off I waited a while (~2hrs) to butcher it. When I went to skin it the body was still moving all over the place and after I gutted it and skinned it the flesh was still moving around and it was very weird. So now I have this sweet snake skin that Is drying and waiting for the perfect place in our house...or the garage more likely.
I hope to find a bigger snake in the future. I sure you am wondering what I did with the flesh..I did not eat it yet. I have given it to a woman I work with and she is going to make some snake chili when she gets a few more.

This week I got to do a lot of things that I do not get to do every week, and they were a lot of fun. Tuesday I went to work at a refinery in the north bay area. There is a tidal area bordering the bay at the northern end of the refinery and it is a suspected habitat of the endangered Clapper Rail. I am part of a team doing the sediment sampling to check for contaminates and possible problems that may occur if there are Clapper or California Black Rails in the area. The video might make the boat ride seem a bit tame, but it was an air boat to get through the shallow waters of the tidal area. It is not everyday that I get to ride an airboat and it sure was a good time sliding around the narrow corners of the channel we were in. The video is from a cell phone so please excuse the poor quality.

Mondays I play indoor soccer with my work friends and well...we are not that good. Thank goodness we had playoffs this week and we usually do not loose by much, but we lost every game this season. We are going to start up again in a week or something, but I am not sure how our record will be.

Wed. Brenda and I went sailing in Santa cruz. The wind was awesome and at the end of the night Brenda was very wet and not looking forward to the ride back home. It was some of the best sailing conditions I have ever had on a wed. night.

Thursday Brenda and I got tickets to the sharks game given to us from a thoughtful school parent. After dinner at Pizza my Heart (with a coupon it was only $3.50 for both of us to eat dinner) we were off to the game.

The game was great and after an overtime win the sharks came out on top.

There was not much after that, but it was a good week all in all.

Central CA Coastal Cruise

As promised I have prepared a posting that is sure to thrill and excite you...well that may not be entirely true, but we were and that is all that matters. I took Friday off this week and we drove down the California coast on hwy 1 on the motorcycle. I know that in some forgotten parts of this great nation there are some unfortunate persons that have experienced snow, rain, and or sleet in this past week and for that I am truly sorry. Friday it was sunny and 70 so it was great for jumping on the bike and hitting the road. The morning was brisk, but with traffic nearly non-existent and with regular stops for sightseeing and pictures we made it down there (the town of Cambria) in about 5 hours. The town is mainly a tourist destination and we drove around and got to see all of the sights. Dinner was at a nice restaurant that was a little steep for the quality of food, but you can’t complain while on vacation. We stayed at a cool little lodge type place and listened to live music at night and relaxed after a long hard day of vacation.
Brenda posing by the water. She listened to the ipod about the entire trip. I could hear her a couple times singing over the roar of the iron horse. The waters were so many different colors of blue and green.
The black stallion...no not me...the bike.

With gas prices like this I was glad to be driving a bike. I guess this is one of the many prices we pay for not living in the snow and bassakwards weather in various other parts of the country.

California in the spring is green and lush (notice the flowers). Give it about 2months and it will be brown and dry for about the next 7 months.

In the morning we got up and headed out for a tour of the Hearst Castle. Some rich guy built this 80,000sq/ft mansion in the 20's and now the state runs tours through it. It was cool to see, but might be one of those just need to go once type of places. I have a hard time paying to go and see a house that some rich guy built for the heck of it.

The "Neptune pool". This pool was rebuilt three times(it is amazing to me how stupid rich people can be). How do people who waste so much money get so rich while the rest of us frugal persons don't? I guess that is one of those life questions that you never get an answer to.
The view from out hotel...no not really... this is Hearst Castle again.
2000yr old Egyptian artifacts.

The dining room

One of the swimming pools. The yellow is 24k gold flake covered tiles.

At noon we got sandwiches at a convenience store and headed up the coast for a picnic. There are so many great places to stop and have a lunch that it is very hard to choose one, but we finally decided and had a great view. The ride home had a bit more traffic, but it is not as big of a deal on a motorcycle and on a short vacation. We arrived home about 5:30 and had to rest our tired butts.

All in all it was a great time with the bike performing reliably as always and arriving home safe after a motorcycle ride is always a good thing.

Check out the crazy driveway down the front of that hill.
A nice waterfall just off the road.
Typical coastal scene.

House sitting

I know that it has been a long time since I have posted, but Brenda and I were over house sitting at the Post’s house and very busy. The Post’s are a family in our church and they have a 16yr old son. The parents went to New Zealand and so Derek needed someone to drive him around so we got the job. They have a very nice house in Los Gatos and it is quite an upgrade from our apartment(it even has a washer and dryer). The founder of Apple owns the house that is about 300' up the hill so you can imagine the neighborhood.
Driving a teen around to everything is a lot of work, but at least he is cool and fun to talk to. Friday Kevin and Lyndsay came and stayed over. Kevin brought sharks tickets, but we were unable to use them. I had a run in with the cops this weekend as well, but there was no arrest so... no big deal(if you are interested in the full story the blog is not the place so give me a call). All in all we had a good time and got paid for staying at their house so it was even better.

This weekend I think we are going to take a motorcycle ride down hwy 1 to the morrow bay area or so and then back up. I am not sure about all of the details, but I am praying for good weather.

I am on an indoor soccer team with work and we have another game tonight and are hoping for our first win of the year. I know we are not that good, but no one gets to upset and everyone is real easygoing and that makes not winning not seem so bad. I obviously have not had a shutout this year, but what can you do?

I apologize for this pathetic post with no pics, but I will guarantee a better post next week with a lot of good pictures and about two near death experiences.